**Chapter 10: Scabbers! What's Wrong with You? Scabbers?**
"*Timor Venit!*" Ivan waved his wand, pointing it at Scabbers' head.
"Squeak! Squeak-squeak... Squeak-squeak-squeak!"
The moment the spell took effect, the greyish-black rat went berserk. Its tightly shut eyes flew open, wide and round, and it let out ear-piercing shrieks.
Then, its powerful hind legs kicked off the desk, sending the entire rat tumbling to the floor. It crashed into several cups and decorations, scurrying wildly around the dormitory.
Seeing such effective results, Ivan finally felt relieved.
It turned out the Fear Charm worked on the opposite principle from the Patronus Charm. The latter required the caster to recall happy memories, while the former required the caster to implant a terrifying image or experience into the target's mind.
It was like a reversed, horror-themed Legilimency...
When casting the spell on Scabbers, Ivan had imagined a scene where the rat was being chased by a large black dog.
Perhaps because Scabbers was asleep when the spell was cast, the power of the Fear Charm merged with its dreams, making the dark magic far more potent than Ivan had anticipated.
While Ivan was still pleased with successfully casting the Fear Charm, Ron and Harry, having heard the commotion from the common room, burst into the dorm.
Seeing the chaotic mess, Harry almost thought he'd walked into the wrong room. He was about to ask what happened when Ron spotted the grey-black rat darting around...
"Oh, no! Scabbers... Scabbers! What's wrong? Scabbers..." Ron cried out in dismay, rushing into the room and diving onto Neville's bed in an attempt to catch the rat that had just scurried past.
But Scabbers, thoroughly terrified by Ivan's magic and mistaking Ron for the black dog from its nightmare, shot under the bed through a gap, leaving Ron scrambling...
"Ivan, what happened here?" Harry asked, looking at Ivan who was still standing by the desk.
"I was just practicing a spell here," Ivan shrugged, then added, sounding slightly guilty. "As you can see, there might have been a... minor accident..."
Harry glanced at Ron, now covered in dust from crawling under the desk, having caught nothing. He felt this "accident" was anything but minor and could only sigh helplessly.
"Looks like we'll be chasing a rat all night."
Fortunately, the situation didn't turn out as bad as Harry feared.
After the three of them struggled for a while, Ivan remembered he was a wizard. Seizing an opportunity, he used the Levitation Charm to float both the book Scabbers was hiding under and the rat itself into the air, finally bringing the farce to an end.
For the next few days, Ron sulked. Feeling responsible, Ivan naturally apologized and even bought some Every Flavour Beans for Scabbers as compensation. With Harry also mediating, Ron eventually let the matter drop.
It's worth noting that upon hearing about this, Hermione openly mocked Ron for caring more about a rat than his friends. They ended up arguing, leaving Ron utterly furious.
Ron became even more protective of Scabbers, even taking him to classes, constantly fearing someone might try to harm his pet.
Ivan, meanwhile, continued his routine of classroom-library-dormitory, reading through more foundational books. He barely managed to accumulate enough points for another Top Student Experience Card. Combined with the steady gains over the days, the proficiency of all his spells increased considerably.
This led to his in-class evaluations improving by a notch!
Apart from History of Magic, where Professor Binns consistently gave an "Average" rating, Ivan received "Excellent" evaluations in his other classes.
Especially in Charms and Transfiguration, as his Transfiguration and Levitation Charms had successfully reached Level 2.
Once, during a transfiguration exercise on a piece of wood, he was even slightly faster than Hermione, leaving both Harry and Ron stunned.
However, further leveling up wouldn't be so easy, as each spell level required double the proficiency points of the previous one.
Besides studying, Ivan also searched for the Room of Requirement, planning to use it as a place to test spell effects in the future. The Gryffindor common room wasn't very convenient.
Unfortunately, having read the original story years ago, Ivan couldn't remember the exact location, only that it was opposite a tapestry. He spent several days searching without success.
It wasn't until Friday of the second week, when Harry received an invitation letter from Hagrid, that Ivan's routine was finally disrupted.
Of course, with good news came bad news.
The bad news was that on this particular Friday, they had to endure two consecutive Potions classes with the Slytherins.
"If only we could skip this morning. Professor Snape, who teaches Potions, is the Head of Slytherin. George told us to be careful..." Ron said in the corridor, sharing rumors he'd heard from his brothers while feeding Scabbers, perched on his right hand.
"It can't be that bad, can it? Professor McGonagall is Head of Gryffindor too, and I've never seen her show favoritism," Hermione couldn't help but retort.
"It's not just me saying it... many older Gryffindors say so too!" Ron was dismissive of Hermione's argument and turned to Harry and Ivan. "You think so too, right? Professor Snape is always so gloomy. There are even rumors at school that he used to be a Dark Wizard..."
When mentioning the rumors, Ron noticeably lowered his voice to avoid being overheard.
"Impossible. Professor Dumbledore wouldn't let a Dark Wizard teach here," Harry shook his head.
Although during the start-of-term feast, Harry had felt Professor Snape seemed to dislike him, in these past days, all the professors had been decent enough.
Snape couldn't be *that* bad...
Hermione nodded in agreement. Left with no support, Ron turned to look at Ivan.
Ivan had been using an Every Flavour Bean to tease Scabbers. Hearing their conversation, he glanced at Harry and said, "Whether Professor Snape targets Gryffindor in general, I don't know. But targeting us? Definitely."
Saying this, Ivan felt a bit frustrated. Getting an "Excellent" evaluation in Snape's class was probably impossible.
After all, love extends to related things, and so does hatred. Even if Snape gave him a "Poor" rating after class, Ivan wouldn't be surprised.
Harry looked at Ivan, utterly baffled, not understanding what he meant.
"You're saying Professor Snape dislikes Harry?" Hermione frowned, guessing Ivan's implication from the way he had looked at Harry.
Ivan mentally commended Hermione's sharpness but knew he couldn't state it outright. He shook his head. "I just suspect it. Don't you think Professor Snape looks at Harry a bit strangely every time?"